Friday

Dec 15, 2017 at 12:36 PMDec 15, 2017 at 1:27 PM

The Ipswich High swimmers and divers swim the lanes and dive off the boards, always hoping to get better individually and help their team to victory.

The Tigers did not get a chance to taste victory during the 2016-17 varsity season, going 0-6, but there is promise for a better season here in 2017-18. Returning swimmers help give the team promise for regular points in a wide variety of events, and six new freshmen and eight sophomores give promise for the future of the team.

Those 14 swimmers in the Classes of 2020 and 2021 comprise half the team, joining nine juniors and five seniors.

"We have a relatively small squad this year with eight male and 20 female swimmers," said head coach Nancy Lindquist, now in her sixth year at the helm. "This year the rules have changed for the Cape Ann League. We will be swimming all varsity events, and separating boys and girls. As always, we look forward to improving all our times and make it a competitive season."

Helping towards that aim are three new year-round swimmers among the six freshmen – butterfly specialists Sandy Colameta and Madeleine Cormier and backstroke swimmer Melanie Powers.

"They will add to our girls team, making us very competitive," said Lindquist.

Tri-captain Carolina Ivanov is on board for her senior year, and she will return to her role as the team’s top bet for points in the breaststroke.

Junior Joanna Mullen comes back to the team as a top freestyle swimmer for the Tigers, and sophomore Elsa Anderson returns as a utility swimmer, able to put together strong laps regardless of the competitive stroke that Lindquist puts her in.

On the boys side, the top returning swimmers are junior Zach Forni (freestyle, butterfly) and sophomore Brendan Hopping (backstroke). Senior co-captains Adam Calnan (backstroke, breaststroke) and Chris Phillips (breaststroke) have already proven their leadership in their close opening meet against Triton.